Skip to main content

Meijo University Wins Second-Straight Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden National Title



The Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden, the National University Women's Ekiden Championships Invitational, took place Dec. 30 in Shizuoka. 22 universities from across the country and two select teams competed for the national title in the midst of cold rain, with Nagoya's Meijo University covering the seven-stage, 43.4 km course in 2:23:09 to win for the second year in a row.

After a slow start that saw it sitting 3rd halfway through the race, Meijo's fourth runner Yuma Yamamoto ran a course record 13:55 for her 4.4 km stage to cut the defending champs' deficit way down. Meijo's next runner, 2019 World University Championships half marathon silver medalist Rika Kaseda, ran the fastest time for the race's longest stage to move the team up from 3rd to 1st. Sixth runner Narumi Kobayashi likewise won her stage on time to give Meijo a lead it kept all the way through the uphill anchor stage.

Meijo's win was both its second-straight and second ever and followed its win at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden. Morinomiyako runner-up Daito Bunka University was 2nd again, with the National Select Team starting fast to lead the first two stages and hold off Morinomiyako 3rd-placer Ritsumeikan University for the 3rd spot overall.

Mount Fuji Women's Ekiden

National University Women's Ekiden Championships Invitational
24 teams, 43.4 km, 7 stages
complete results

Top Team Results
1. Meijo University - 2:23:09
2. Daito Bunka University - 2:24:25
3. National Select Team - 2:25:22
4. Ritsumeikan University - 2:25:45
5. Josai University - 2:26:16
6. Kyoto Sangyo University - 2:27:27
7. Nittai University - 2:27:38
8. Osaka Gakuin University - 2:27:59
9. Juntendo University - 2:28:48
10. Toyo University - 2:29:02

Top Individual Stage Performances
First Stage (4.1 km) - Yuki Kanemitsu (National Select Team) - 12:50
Second Stage (6.8 km) - Rino Goshima (National Select Team) - 20:40 - CR
Third Stage (3.3 km) - Mai Misaki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 10:07 - CR
Fourth Stage (4.4 km) - Yuma Yamamoto (Meijo Univ.) - 13:55 - CR
Fifth Stage (10.5 km) - Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) - 34:51
Sixth Stage (6.0 km) - Narumi Kobayashi (Meijo Univ.) - 19:40
Seventh Stage (8.3 km, ~200 m uphill) - Erika Tanoura (Toyo Univ.) - 29:17

source article:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20191230/k10012232281000.html
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...